John Terry announced on Monday he will be leaving Chelsea at the end of the season, ending the 22 years he has spent at the club.

The veteran defender won 14 major honours with the blues, including four league titles and the champions league.

“It is not easy, because don’t forget that, this season, some players [who have left] have been very important for this team,” Conte told a pre-match news conference ahead of the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham.

“They brought a lot of history to this club and I’m talking about [Branislav] Ivanovic, [John-Obi] Mikel and, next season, also John.

“It’s not easy to find the right replacement and it’s for this reason that I continue to speak about how we have to build something important, to replace players that have been here for many years. They achieved a lot of great results for this club.

“Now we have to find, together, the new players to replace these great players and write the history for this great club and I hope everyone understands this.”